


The Unknown

by Hollyflash



Series: DannyMay 2017 [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: And by that I mean it's compared to cheese, DannyMay 2017, Gen, References to the Unworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 12:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13658751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollyflash/pseuds/Hollyflash
Summary: When Danny died- because in the end, everyone dies- he didn’t find himself in the Ghost Zone.The world wasn't kind enough for that.





	The Unknown

When Danny died- because in the end, everyone dies- he didn’t find himself in the Ghost Zone. No, there was no green where he was. Just pale grey fog, so thick that he couldn’t see his toes. When he reached out a hand, the fog split into tendrils and wrapped around him.

He wasn’t scared, though.

That didn’t seem right.

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello?” He called. His voice echoed through the fog. It shouldn’t have done that. “Hello?” He called again, “Is anyone out there? Please, I- my friends are in danger! I need to know if they’re okay!”

The world around him buzzed, and the fog changed to static. It shifted into a scene, and Danny saw a man on a hospital bed. He was crying. Everyone around him was crying. Danny stepped into the scene and stared at the man. “Tucker? What’s wrong?” He reached out to put his hand on Tucker’s shoulder and the scene snapped away. He was back in the fog. “Tucker?!”

“You can’t touch them, you know.”

Danny spun around. The fog had pulled back to reveal a young man with the hood of his black sweater up. The edges of his form glitched when he took a step forwards.

“You’re how old, late thirties? You got lucky.” He flicked back his hood, and Danny saw a face too close to his own. “Most of us don’t even make it to twenty-eight. That’s like an extra ten years- and  _I_  only reached seventeen. You should be grateful for how much time you had with them.”

“You’re me?” It didn’t make sense. Danny should be panicking- but instead he was ready to just accept the teenager’s words. “Wait- where are we? Am I dead?”

The smaller Danny raised an eyebrow. “Don’t hurt yourself.” He turned around and spread his arms wide, “This is Limbo, or the Unworld, or the Unknown Dimension.” He turned back to Danny, “If the multiverse was a grilled cheese, it’d be the cheese. And yes, you are dead.” He held up a hand, and the fog around them turned to static. Another scene formed around them.

They were on a street in Amity Park. Ectoblasts lit up the sky above them, and Sam ran past. The scene followed her as she ran, and Danny saw a fireball fall from the sky above her. He saw himself, flying down towards her- and the scene froze.

“You took a hit for her,” Small Danny said, nudging Danny with his elbow. The scene dissolved, and they were back into the fog. “You did a good thing. Now all that’s left to do is wait.”

“I want to see them,” Danny said quickly, “I need to check on Sam and Tucker. I can’t just-”

“You can.” Small Danny gave him a serious look, and his form glitched again. The ends of his hair turned to static. “In this realm, you can watch or you can wait. If you wait, everyone you’re waiting  _for_  will be here before you know it. And trust me, it’s so much better when you’re not alone. But if you watch, you’ll be waiting their lifetime just to see them again. Just wait, and they’ll be here soon.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “You mean they’ll be dead soon.”

“Everyone dies, dude. You did,” he shrugged, “I did. It’s not a big deal.”

“You really think that?” Danny moved away from the teenager who looked too much like him. “You can’t be me. What are you?”

His edges glitched again. “That is the million dollar question, isn’t it?” He shrugged, “I’ll leave you alone, then. No need to get snappy.”

And Danny watched as the glitching teenager dissolved into static and disappeared into the fog.

He shook his head again and spun around. “I need to see Tucker and Sam!” He shouted into the fog, and watched as it shifted to static. He was back in that hospital room; Tucker was still breaking down. Sam was nowhere in sight.

Danny stood beside him, looking out over all the gathered people he knew. Where was Sam?

“Danny?”

The scene was gone; he hadn’t touched anything, but it had snapped away. Sam was standing in the fog in front of him.

_No._

“Danny, you  _idiot!_ ” She ran at him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking Danny as she shouted. “If you ever do something that  _stupid_ and  _selfish_ again I'll-"

“I’m so sorry,” Danny whispered, and suddenly he understood why Tucker had been sobbing. He was too, now- with Sam at his side, the fog quit trying to take his emotions from him. He clung to Sam and stared at her, trying to remember what mistake he had made that would explain why she was here now. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I did wrong.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the DannyMay 2017 prompt The Unknown and posted on May 7th. I like to call it 'the one where if someone read this and then read Connections, I'd get yelled at.'


End file.
